News

The recently launched online mapping platform developed by the Association for Progressive Communications in partnership with APC member AZUR Developpement under the Africatti project, will contribute to holding the Congo government accountable on domestic violence in a country where serious incidents of gender based violence and human rights violations take place.

APC’s Connect Your Rights campaign is teaming up with the global campaign Take Back The Tech – fighting violence against women – on its 12th day of action (from 16). We are offering three stories to make the case for urgent action on sex worker rights, online and offline. Read more and be sure to sign our petition.

Do you remember the culture jamming actions against official websites in Uganda last August? Anonymous activists managed to modify content on presidential and governmental websites in a way that showed the government as apologizing to the Ugandan LGBT community for repeated persecution of gays and lesbians. Just a few months later, Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Bill is there again and it could be passed into law imminently.

A webinar hosted by the African Feminist Forum and the Association for Progressive Communications addressed issues such as security online, activism and fundraising as relevant aspects for the empowerment of the feminist cyborg.

Now in its 34th year, the IT Personality of the Year recognises a person who has made an outstanding impact on the South African ICT industry and a significant contribution to the ICT profession. Among this year’s five finalists (out of 10 nominees) was APC Executive director, Anriette Esterhuysen.

On the occasion of November 29th, Women Human Rights Defenders Day, the Women Human Rights Defenders International Coalition stands in solidarity with the hundreds of thousands of women activists around the world who – with exemplary courage, determination, and strength, uphold women’s human rights, the rights of communities, and of the environment.

At 10:26 UTC on November 29th, Syria’s international internet connectivity was shut down. APC strongly condemns this shut down, which threatens the safety and security of the Syrian people, and clearly violates international human rights law.

This year’s Take Back the Tech! campaign started with a renewed liveliness. Colnodo, Bytes for All, Foundation for Media Alternatives, Si Jeunesse Savait, OneWorldsee and Mexico partners from the “End violence: Women’s rights and safety online” project are promoting a number of activities that call to end violence against women and to promote empowering online spaces for women and girls.

This campaign launched by APC member Bytes for All from Pakistan is a call for larger human rights movement in the country and citizens to fight the ongoing censorship as it will further take its toll on already compromised civil liberties in the country. All individuals are invited to join the movement and protest by sharing the campaign visuals over the internet.

Have you or other women you know experienced violence against women online or through the use of information and communications technologies such as mobile phones and the internet? You get into action to end violence against women and map the incident. Come and join us to unmask online violence with just a few clicks.

This year’s Internet Governance Forum came to a close in Baku, Azerbaijan on 9 November. GenderIT.org contributor Sonia Randhawa spoke to three women about their experiences at the IGF, and whether any progress is being made in terms of the representation of women, and the prominence of women’s rights and gender as cross-cutting issues for internet governance.

Take Back the Tech! From 25 Nov to 10 Dec, take part in the 16 days of activism and take control of technology to tell, listen and share transformative stories. Document, inspire, converse and collectively envision the end to violence against women.

As the world is about to celebrate 16 days of activism against gender-based violence, and following the taking of Goma and Sake, two cities in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo by the M23 rebels, the young feminist and congolese organisation Si Jeunesse Savait is concerned by recent developments in the situation, which echoes through the media.

Women may not have been an active part of policy-­making conversations when internet governance started, but the rapid pace of change online means they need to participate now to ensure that the future of the internet is shaped taking into account women’s rights. Read a report about “Women’s Rights on the Internet” on UNICEF’s The World We Want 2015 platform.

APC and Hivos launched the 2012 edition of the Global Information Society Watch during the second day of the Internet Governance Forum that took place in Baku, Azerbaijan, in a joint presentation with the International Institute for Sustainable Development and the Internet & Society Co:llaboratory.

Registration is open to this webinar organised by the African Feminist Forum and the Association for Progressive Communications, taking place on Dec 3, 2012 1:00 PM GMT. It will examine the idea of the feminist cyborg, at home both online and offline, and her activism is reflected in her online life as well as in what she does offline.

Tech-related violence against women and girls is increasing – but so are our stories of survival and strategies to make the internet a safe space for women. Join Take Back the Tech! this 25 November through 10 December to help end violence against women and girls online.

In and interview with Anriette Esterhuysen and Alan Finlay, David Souter of the International Institute for Sustainable Development explores the key issues around ICTs and environmental sustainability as part of a series of papers meant to inform and stimulate discussion and debate on the relationship between information and communication technologies (ICTs), the internet and sustainability.

GenderIT.org explores the online safety of women human rights defenders from the perspective of national security and counter-terrorism. Despite the fact that online and offline security measures adversely impact on women’s and sexual rights, women and sexual minorities are still two of the most invisible stakeholders in national security debates.

The 7th Internet Governance Forum (IGF) just drew to a close. Many views and analyses were published, most of them adopting a technical point of view. If you are interested in a slightly different take on the world’s most important internet governance encounter, consider reading up on GenderIT.org’s reports on gender peripheries of the IGF…